Adjustable heads for socket wrenches



May 28, 1968 T. E. CUNNINGHAM ADJUSTABLE HEADS FOR SOCKET WRENCHES 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 25, 1966 INVENTOR.

THOMAS E. CUNNINGHAM BY Q 5%;

Agent y 1968 T. E. CUNNINGHAM 3,385,142-

ADJUSTABLB HEADS FOR SOCKET WRENCHES Filed Dec. 23, 1966 v 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 74 ;i@! !i' 72 I 52 y E 'H!|' ii i Fi .3 5

vvv x 44 INVENTOR.

THOMAS E. CUNNINGHAM BY I 7 2 P;

Agent May 28, 1968 E- CUNNINGHAM 3,385,142

ADJUSTABLE HEADS FOR SOCKET WRENCHES Filed Dec. 25, 1966 3 Sheets-Sheet s l I I, E

| I 1W 1 1 62 I g l O 42 V I so v v x/ v I INVENTOR. THOMAS E. CUNNINGHAM Agent United States Patent 3,385,142 ADJUSTABLE HEADS FOR SOCKET WRENCHES Thomas E. Cunningham, 1583 Hillsdale Ave., Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada Filed Dec. 23, 1%6, Ser. No. 604,355 8 Claims. (Cl. 81-130) ABSTRAfiT OF THE DISCLOURE An adjustable head for a socket wrench having a housing and a pair of jaws, each jaw having a toothed rack which engages a pinion within the housing whereby on rotation of the pinion the jaws move simultaneously so as to always be equidistant from the longitudinal axis of the housing. A feature is that the jaws may be locked in any desired position.

The present invention relates generally to chuck-type article-holding devices and more particularly to adjustable heads for socket wrenches.

In existing socket wrenches, a different head is required for each size nut. Consequently, a full set of heads is relatively heavy and expensive. It is an object of the present invention to provide a single adjustable socket wrench head which can accommodate a range of different size nuts and thereby reduce the cost and weight of the complete tool.

This is achieved in accordance with the present invention by the provision of an article-holding device having two adjustable jaws which are always equidistant from the longitudinal axis of the housing of the device. Although the article-holding devices of the present invention are particularly useful as socket wrench heads, they can be used in numerous other applications in which it is desired to hold an article in a similar manner.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a chucktype article-holding device consisting essentially of a housing having a longitudinal axis, a pair of article-holding jaws guidably mounted in said housing and means for simultaneously moving said jaws with respect to said housing so that they are always substantially equidistant from said longitudinal axis of said housing.

The article-holding jaws may be mounted in the housing of the device in any convenient manner provided that they are always equidistant from the longitudinal axis of the housing. One particularly convenient manner of mounting the jaws in accordance with the present invention comprises providing each of the jaws with a toothed rack which engages with a pinion which has longitudinal teeth along its periphery and which is rotatably mounted in the housing of the device so that the axis of the pinion lies along the longitudinal axis of the housing so that, on rotation of the pinion, the jaws are simultaneously moved with respect to the housing so as always to be equidistant from said longitudinal axis of the housing.

In order to permit ready manual rotation of such a pinion for the purpose of adjusting the separation of the article-holding jaws, the pinion may be co-axially secured to an adjusting wheel for co-rotation therewith so that, on rotation of said adjusting wheel, said article-holding jaws are simultaneously moved with respect to the housing.

In such a device having a rack and pinion adjusting means, the ease with which the jaw position can be ad justed will depend, inter alia, on the pitch of the teeth provided on the racks and the pinion. If it is desired to use a relatively coarse pitch so as to obtain rapid movement of the jaws on rotation of the adjusting wheel, the device may be provided with a locking device to restrain undesired movement of the jaws once they have been set 3,385,142 Patented May 28, 1968 to a desired position. Such a locking device may, for instance, comprise a spring-loaded ball which is engageable with each of a series of depressions formed near the periphery in one surface of the adjusting wheel.

In order to prevent movement of the jaws outwardly beyond their outermost position, it is desirable to provide one or both jaws with a stop-plate which abuts the housing of the device when the jaws are in their outermost position thereby preventing further outward movement of the jaws. Alternatively, such a stop-plate can abut the pinion which is preferably used to adjust the position of the jaws.

When a device in accordance with the present invention is to be used as a head for a socket wrench, its housing will also be provided with a wrench-turning arm-engaging means to permit rotation of the article-holding device about its longitudinal axis on rotation of the wrench-turning arm. Such a wrench-turning arm-engaging means can, for instance, comprise a recess or protuberance of polygonal cross-section which engages with a corresponding polygonal end or socket in the end of a wrench-turning arm. In such use, the wrench-turning armengaging means will normally be disposed so that the axis of the wrench-turning arm coincides with the longitudinal axis of the housing of the device according to the invention. When the device is used as a socket wrench head, the jaws will normally each comprise a pair of faces formin a dihedral angle along a line parallel to the longitudinal axis of the housing of the device and the dihedral angles of the two article-holding jaws will generally be diametrically opposite each other with respect to the longitudinal axis of the housing. Such dihedral angles will normally be equal to the angle between adjacent sides of the nut or bolt head with which the wrench is to be used. For instance, in the case of hexagonal nuts and bolts, the dihedral angle between the two faces of each jaw will be substantially equal to The invention will now be described by way of illustration with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a chuck-type article-holding device in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the housing of the device of FIG. 1 with the article-holding jaws removed but showing the vertical pinion and the adjusting wheel used to move the jaws;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of one of the article-holdin g jaws from the device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged and exploded perspective view of the vertical pinion and the adjusting wheel from the device of FIG. 1 showing in broken lines how these components are interconnected; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the upper part of the device of FIG. 1 with part of the housing cut away to show how the device may be used as a socket wrench head and to show the locking device provided for restraining movement of the adjusting wheel.

The device shown in the drawings comprises a housing generally indicated at 2 having a longitudinal axis AA and a pair of article-holding jaws generally indicated at 4 and 5.

The housing 2 comprises an upper portion 6 and a lower portion 8. The jaws 4 and 5 each comprise a pair of faces 14 11 and 12, 13 respectively and a horizontal arm 14 and 15 offset from the centre of the jaw and provided with vertical teeth 16 on the inner faces of the horizontal arms 14 and 15 respectively.

The lower part 8 of the housing 2 comprises an opening generally indicated at 13 defined by vertical side walls 20 and 22 and upper and lower horizontal members 24 and 26 respectively. The horizontal arms 14 and 15 of the jaws 4 and 5 pass through the opening 18 and the teeth 16 engage with a vertical pinion 28. The pinion 28 is disposed for rotation about its longitudinal vertical axis within generally circular openings 30 and 32 provided in the upper and lower horizontal members 24 and 26 respectively of the lower part 8 of the housing 2, the longitudinal axis of the vertical pinion 28 lying along the longitudinal axis A-A of the housing 2.

The upper end of the vertical pinion 28 is provided with an external screw thread 34 (see FIG. 4) and a corresponding internal thread 36 is provided in a central opening 38 in an adjusting wheel 40 disposed within an opening 42 in the upper part 6 of the housing 2. The adjusting wheel 40 and the pinion 28 are rigidly keyed together by means of a rod 44 which passes through a diametric hole 46 in the adjusting wheel 40 and through a corresponding hole 48 in the upper end of the vertical pinion 28.

In order to improve the lateral stability of the arms 14 and 15 and to prevent side-play, it is preferred to pro vide each of these arms with longitudinal upper and lower guides 50 and 52 respectively which travel in upper grooves 54 and lower grooves 56 which are provided in the upper and lower horizontal members 24 and 26 respectively which bound opening 18.

As previously explained, the device may be provided with a locking device for the purpose of restraining undesired rotation of the adjusting wheel 40. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5, the adjusting wheel 40 is provided near its periphery with a series of indentations 58 in its upper face. A small ball 60 in a cylindrical hole 62 in the upper portion 6 of the housing 2 engages with the indentations 5S and is held in position by a helical spring 64, the upper end of spring 64 being restrained by a set screw 66 screwed into hole 62 at the top face of the upper portion 6 of the housing 2. On deliberate manual rotation of the adjusting wheel 40, the ball 60 is lifted over the indentations 58.

When used as an adjustable socket wrench head, the device will be provided with means by which it can be engaged to a wrench-turning arm to permit rotation of the device about its longitudinal axis A-A on rotation of the wrench-turning arm. Such means are shown in FIG. 5 as comprising a recess 68 having a square cross-section which can receive a conventional wrench-turning arm with a square end. The centre of the recess 68 lies on the longitudinal axis A--A of the device so that the axis of rotation of the engaging end of the wrench-turning arm and the axis of rotation A-A of the article-holding device according to the invention Will coincide. The recess 68 is conveniently provided with a small depression 70 in each of its vertical faces for engagement with a springloaded ball provided in the engaging part of the wrenchturning ar mto prevent the device inadvertently slipping otf the end of the wrench-turning arm. It will be appreciated that the provision of recess 68 is described merely by way of example and that a wrench-turning arm could by removably secured in any other convenient manner. As previously stated, a recess or protuberance of polygonal section will normally be provided for this purpose. For instance, instead of recess 68, a square stud could be provided on the upper surface of the upper portion 6 of the housing 2. In general, however, a square recess such as recess 68 will be provided, for example, to accommodate a standard half inch square wrench-turning arm.

In order to prevent outward movement of the articleholding jaws beyond their outermost position, one or both of them can conveniently be provided with a stop-plate 72 which can be held in position, for example, by means of a set screw 74. Such a stop-plate 72 engages with the housing 2 or with the vertical pinion 28 thereby preventing further outward movement of the jaws 4 and 5.

When the device is to be used as a socket wrench head,

the dihedral angle between the two faces of each jaw will correspond approximately to the dihedral angle between two adjacent sides of the nut or bolt head on which the wrench is to be used. In the case of the use of the device as a socket wrench head for hexagonal nuts and bolts, the dihedral angle D (see FIG. 3) will be approximately In general, the dihedral angles of the two jaws will be diametrically opposite each other with respect to the longitudinal axis A-A of the housing 2.

What is claimed is:

1. A chuck-type article-holding device consisting essentially of a housing having a longitudinal axis, a pair of article-holding jaws guidably mounted in said housing, each of said jaws being provided with a toothed rack which engages a pinion which has longitudinal teeth along its periphery and which is rotatably mounted in said housing so that the axis of said pinion lies along the longitudinal axis of said housing, said pinion being coaxially secured to an adjusting wheel for co-rotation therewith so that, on rotation of said adjusting wheel, said jaws are simultaneously moved with respect to said housing so as always to be equidistant from said longitudinal axis of said housing, and a locking device for restraining undesired rotation of said adjusting wheel after said article-holding jaws have been moved a predetermined distance from said longitudinal axis of said housing, said locking device comprising a spring-loaded ball engageable with each of a series of depressions formed near the periphery of one surface of said adjusting wheel.

2. An article-holding device as claimed in claim 1 in which at least one of said toothed racks is provided with a stop-plate on its free end, said stop-plate abutting said housing or said pinion when said article-holding jaws are moved to their outermost position so as to prevent further outward movement of said article-holding jaws.

3. An adjustable socket wrench head which consists essentially of a chuck-type article-holding device comprising a housing having a longitudinal axis, a pair of articleholding jaws guidably mounted in said housing, each of said article-holding jaws having a pair of faces forming a dihedral angle along a line parallel to said longitudinal axis, said dihedral angles being diametrically opposite each other with respect to said longitudinal axis, and each of said article-holding jaws having a toothed rack which engages a pinion which has longitudinal teeth along its periphery and which is rotatably mounted in said housing so that the axis of said pinion lies along the longitudinal axis of said housing whereby, on rotation of said pinion, said jaws are simultaneously moved with respect to said housing so as always to be equidistant from said longitudinal axis of said housing, said housing also being provided with a wrench-turning arm-engaging means of polygonal cross-section so disposed that the axis of the Wrench-turning arm coincides with said longitudinal axis of said housing, said arm-engaging means to permit rotation of said article-holding device about said longitudinal axis of said housing on rotation of said wrench-turning arm.

4. An adjustable socket wrench head as claimed in claim 3 in which said pinion is co-axially secured to an adjusting wheel for co-rotation therewith so that, on rotation of said adjusting wheel, said article-holding jaws are simultaneously moved with respect to said housing.

5. An adjustable socket wrench head as claimed in claim 4 in which there is provided a locking device for restraining undesired rotation of said adjusting wheel after said article-holding jaws have been moved a predetermined distance from said longitudinal axis.

6. An adjustable socket wrench head as claimed in claim 5 in which said locking device comprises a springloaded ball engageable with each of a series of depressions formed near the periphery in one surface of said adjusting wheel.

7. An adjustable socket wrench head as claimed in claim 6 in which at least one of said toothed racks is provided with a stop-plate on its free end, said stop-plate abutting said housing or said pinion when said articleholding jaws are moved to their outermost position so as to prevent further outward movement of said articleholding jaws.

8. An adjustable socket wrench head as claimed in claim 7 in which each of said dihedral angles is approximately 120.

10 MILTON S.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS ONeill et a1. 81l33 Andersen.

Fisher 81-128 Recen 81128 Edlund 81--128 MEHR, Primary Examiner. 

